A Little Book 

of 



'Go, little book, and wish to all 
Flowers in the garden, meat in the hall, 
A bin of wine, a spice of wit, 
A house with lawns enclosing it, 
A living river by the door, 
A nightingale in the sycamore!" 



CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 

Publishers V\(ew York Qity 



.3* 



COPYRIGHT, I92O 
by CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 



OCT | 6 |920©GI.A601096 



"Behind the Scenes Ivz'th 

STEVENSON 



An the romantic history of Stevenson's life nothing is 
more delightful than the story of how he came to write 
some of the books that have made him great. 

Before he had become a famous author he was very 
fond of staying at a little town in France in the Forest of 
Fontainebleau, where there was a colony of artists. Here 
he met a Mrs. Osbourne, an American lady who was study- 
ing painting, and the two spent many delightful hours to- 
gether. But, at last, the lady with her two children, a 
boy and a girl, returned to her home in California. After 
lingering in Paris some six months Stevenson made his 
famous excursion to Monastier, which he describes in 
"Travels with a Donkey," and returned to Scotland; but 
he did not forget the woman who was 

"Trusty, dusky, vivid, true, 
With eyes of gold and bramble-dew." 

In fact, to his cousin, R. A. M. Stevenson, who had been 
at Fontainebleau and knew her, he wrote about "Travels 
with a Donkey": "Lots of it is mere protestation to F. 
(Mrs. Osbourne). This to me is the main thread of inter- 
est." So it is not surprising that he determined to follow 
her to America. 

[5] 



Stevenson came of a fine old Scotch family in com- 
fortable circumstances, but in spite of the fact that he was 
really too ill to try to make his own living by writing, he 
was too proud to ask his father for money, and he decided 
to go to America in the steerage and to cross the United 
States on an emigrant train. This trip, through its hard- 
ships, very nearly caused his death, but it gave to the 
world two fascinating books, for he describes, as only Ste- 
venson can, his companions and experiences on shipboard 
and travelling to California in "The Amateur Emigrant" 
and "Across the Plains." 

How he finally married Fanny Osbourne in California, 
and how her tender care kept him alive fourteen years, 
during which he wrote the books that were to make him 
immortal, is one of the most beautiful stories in the world 
of literature. 

From the very first he became fast friends with his 
stepson, Lloyd. Mrs. Sanchez, in her recent biography of 
her sister, "The Life of Mrs. Robert Louis Stevenson," 
has told of the happy times together in those early days in 
California : 

"For the long evenings of winter we had a game which 
Louis invented expressly for our amusement. Lloyd Os- 
bourne, then a boy of twelve, had rather more than the usual 
boy's fondness for stories of the sea. It will be remembered 
that it was to please this boy that Mr. Stevenson afterward 
wrote ' Treasure Island.' Our game was to tell a continued 
story, each person being limited to two minutes, taking up 
the tale at the point where the one before him left off. We 

[*] 



older ones had a secret understanding that we were to keep 
Lloyd away from the sea, but strive as we might, even 
though we left the hero stranded in the middle of the Desert 
of Sahara, Lloyd never failed to have him sailing the 
bounding main again before his allotted two minutes ex- 
pired." 

'Treasure Island 

After a time Stevenson was able to take his family back 
to Europe, and once when they were staying at Braemar, 
in the highlands of Scotland, Lloyd Osbourne came home 
from school for a holiday. Of this momentous visit Ste- 
venson says: 

"He had no thought of literature; it was the art of 
Raphael that received his fleeting suffrages, and with the 
aid of pen and ink and a shilling box of water-colours, he 
had soon turned one of the rooms into a picture-gallery. 
My more immediate duty toward the gallery was to be 
showman; but I would sometimes unbend a little, join the 
artist (so to speak) at the easel, and pass the afternoon 
with him in a generous emulation, making coloured draw- 
ings. On one of these occasions I made the map of an 
island; it was elaborately and (I thought) beautifully col- 
oured; the shape of it took my fancy beyond expression; 
it contained harbours that pleased me like sonnets; and 
with the unconsciousness of the predestined, I ticketed 
my performance 'Treasure Island.' . . . 

"No child but must remember laying his head in the 

[7] 



grass, staring into the infinitesimal forest, and seeing it 
grow populous with fairy armies. Somewhat in this way, 
as I pored upon my map of 'Treasure Island,' the future 
characters of the book began to appear there visibly among 
imaginary woods; and their brown faces and bright weapons 
peeped out upon me from unexpected quarters, as they 
passed to and fro, fighting, and hunting treasure, on these 
few square inches of a flat projection. The next thing I 
knew I had some paper before me, and was writing out a 
list of chapters. How often have I done so, and the thing 
gone no farther ! But there seemed elements of success 
about this enterprise. It was to be a story for boys; no 
need of psychology or fine writing; and I had a boy at 
hand to be a touchstone. Women were excluded. (That 
was Lloyd's stipulation.) 

"On a chill September morning, by the cheek of a brisk 
fire, and the rain drumming on the window, I began the 
'Sea Cook,' for that was the original title. . . . Day by 
day, after lunch, I read aloud my morning's work to the 
family. 

"I had counted on one boy; I found I had two in my 
audience. My father caught fire at once, with all the 
romance and childishness of his original nature. His own 
stories, that every night of his life he put himself to sleep 
with, dealt perpetually with ships, roadside inns, robbers, 
old sailors, and commercial travellers before the era of 
steam. He never finished one of these romances: the 
lucky man did not require to ! But in ' Treasure Island ' 
he recognized something kindred to his own imagination; 

[*] 



it was his kind of picturesque; and he not only heard with 
delight the daily chapter, but set himself actively to col- 
laborate. When the time came for Billy Bones's chest to 
be ransacked, he must have passed the better part of a 
day preparing, on the back of a legal envelope, an inven- 
tory of its contents, which I exactly followed ; and the name 
of 'Flint's old ship,' the Walrus, was given at his particular 
request." 

And so during the winter "Treasure Island" was fin- 
ished. The story was published in a little English maga- 
zine called Young Folks. Stevenson received for it the 
miserable price of £2 s.io a page (forty-five hundred words 
to the page). It appeared under the name of Captain 
George North, for Stevenson did not wish to injure his 
reputation as a writer of serious essays. Nearly two years 
elapsed before this yarn of buccaneers and pirates became 
one of the most popular of boys' books, and an amusing 
and almost unbelievable fact is that the editors of Young 
Folks received more than one indignant letter from readers 
for printing such a tale. 



T)r. Jekyll and ^ffr. Hyde 

After spending several winters at Davos Platz, in Swit- 
zerland, Stevenson's father gave him a house in the south 
of England, at Bournemouth. It was here that he wrote 
one of the most famous of all his stories, "The Strange Case 
of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." His cousin, Graham Bal- 



four, details the circumstances of the writing of this tale, 
in his official "Life of Stevenson": 

"A subject much in his thoughts at this time was the 
duality of man's nature, and the alternation of good and 
evil; and he was for a long while casting about for a story 
to embody this central idea. Out of this frame of mind 
had come the sombre imagination of 'Markheim,' but that 
was not what he required. The true story still delayed, 
till suddenly one night he had a dream. He awoke, and 
found himself in possession of two, or rather three, of 
the scenes in the 'Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. 
Hyde.' 

" Its waking existence, however, was by no means with- 
out incident. He dreamed these scenes in considerable 
detail, including the circumstance of the transforming 
powders, and so vivid was the impression that he wrote 
the story off at a red heat, just as it had presented itself 
to him in his sleep. 

" ' In the small hours of one morning,' says Mrs. Steven- 
son, ' I was awakened by cries of horror from Louis. Think- 
ing he had a nightmare, I awakened him. He said angrily: 
"Why did you wake me? I was dreaming a fine bogey 
tale." I had awakened him at the first transformation 
scene.' 

"Mr. Osbourne writes : 'I don't believe that there was 
ever such a literary feat before as the writing of "Dr. 
Jekyll." I remember the first reading as though it were 
yesterday. Louis came down-stairs in a fever ; read nearly 
half the book aloud ; and then, while we were still gasping, 

[70] 



he was away again, and busy writing. I doubt if the first 
draft took so long as three days.' 

" He had lately had a hemorrhage, and was strictly for- 
bidden all discussion or excitement. No doubt the read- 
ing aloud was contrary to the doctor's orders; at any rate 
Mrs. Stevenson, according to the custom then in force, 
wrote her detailed criticism of the story as it then stood, 
pointing out her chief objection — that it was really an 
allegory, whereas he had treated it purely as if it were a 
story. In the first draft Jekyll's nature was bad all 
through, and the Hyde change was worked only for the 
sake of a disguise. She gave the paper to her husband and 
left the room. After a while his bell rang; on her return 
she found him sitting up in bed (the clinical thermometer 
in his mouth), pointing with a long denunciatory finger to 
a pile of ashes. He had burned the entire draft. Having 
realized that he had taken the wrong point of view, that 
the tale was an allegory and not another 'Markheim,' he 
at once destroyed his manuscript, acting not out of pique, 
but from a fear that he might be tempted to make too 
much use of it, and not rewrite the whole from a new 
standpoint. It was written again in three days." 

In his extraordinary essay, "A Chapter on Dreams," 
Stevenson has told of the strange stories he saw "acted 
out" in that small theatre of the brain which we keep 
brightly lighted all night long. Often the jets are down 
and the darkness and sleep reign undisturbed in the re- 
mainder of the body — and in his own words he tells how 
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde came to him. 

["] 



Editions ^/Stevenson's Works 



THE BIOGRAPHICAL EDITION 

With introductions written especially for this edition by Mrs. 
Stevenson, and describing the circumstances under which the 
books were written. 31 volumes. Bound in cloth and in limp 
leather. 

NOVELS AND ROMANCES 

Treasure Island. With Map 

Prince Otto 

Kidnapped. Being the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 

1751. With Map 
David Balfour. A Sequel to Kidnapped. Being Memoirs of 

His Adventures at Home and Abroad • 
The Master of Ballantrae. A Winter's Tale 
The Wrecker. With Lloyd Osbourne 
The Black Arrow. A Tale of the Two Roses 
The Ebb-Tide. A Trio and Quartette. With Lloyd Osbourne 
St. Ives. Being the Adventures of a French Prisoner in England 
The Wrong Box. With Lloyd Osbourne 
Weir of Hermiston. Containing also The Misadventures of 

John Nicholson, The Story of a Lie, and The Body-Snatcher 

SHORTER STORIES 

New Arabian Nights 

The Suicide Club — The Rajah's Diamond — The Pavilion on 
the Links — A Lodging for the Night — The Sire De Male- 
troit's Door — Providence and the Guitar 

The Merry Men and Other Tales and Fables 

Will o' the Mill— Markheim— Thrawn Janet— Olalla— The 
Treasure of Franchard. Containing also The Strange Case of 
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 

The Dynamiter. More New Arabian Nights 

The Squire of Dames — Story of the Destroying Angel — The 
Superfluous Mansion — Narrative of the Spirited Old Lady — 
Zero's Tale of the Explosive Bomb — The Brown Box — Story 
of the Fair Cuban 

[»] 



Island Nights' Entertainments 

The Beach of Falesa. Being the Narrative of a South-Sea 
Trader — The Bottle Imp — The Isle of Voices 



ESSAYS, TRAVELS, AND SKETCHES 

An Inland Voyage 

Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes 

vlrginibus puerisque and other papers 

Crabbed Age and Youth — An Apology for Idlers — Ordered 
South — ^Es Triplex — El Dorado — The English Admirals — 
Some Portraits by Raeburn — Child's Play — Walking Tours — 
Pan's Pipes — A Plea for Gas Lamps 

Familiar Studies of Men and Books 

Victor Hugo's Romances — Some Aspects of Robert Burns — 
Walt Whitman — Henry David Thoreau: His Character and 
Opinions — Yoshida-Torajiro — Francois Villon, Student, Poet 
and Housebreaker — Charles of Orleans — Samuel Pepys — John 
Knox and His Relations to Women 

Memories and Portraits 

The Foreigner at Home — Some College Memories — Old Mor- 
tality — A College Magazine — An Old Scotch Gardener — Pas- 
toral — The Manse — Memoirs of an Islet — Thomas Stevenson 
— Talk and Talkers: First Paper — Talk and Talkers: Second 
Paper — The Character of Dogs — "A Penny Plain and Two- 
pence Coloured" — A Gossip on a Novel of Dumas's — A Gos- 
sip on Romance — A Humble Remonstrance 

In the South Seas 

Being an Account of Experiences and Observations in the 
Marquesas, Paumotus and Gilbert Islands in the Course of 
two Cruises on the Yacht "Casco" (1888) and the Schooner 
"Equator" (1889). With Map 

The Amateur Emigrant and The Silverado Squatters 

Across the Plains, with Other Memories and Essays 

The Old Pacific Capital — Fontainebleau — Random Memories 
— The Lantern-Bearers — A Chapter on Dreams — Beggars — 
Letter to a Young Gentleman — Pulvis et Umbra — A Christ- 
mas Sermon 



Lay Morals and Other Papers 

Father Damien — The Pentland Rising — College Papers — 
Criticisms — Sketches — The Great North Road — The Young 
Chevalier — Heathercat 

Essays of Travel and in the Art of Writing 

Edinburgh: Picturesque Notes — Cockermouth and Keswick 
— Roads — On the Enjoyment of Unpleasant Places — An Au- 
tumn Effect — A Winter's Walk in Garrick and Galloway — 
Forest Notes — A Mountain Town in France — Random Mem- 
ories: "Rosa Quo Locorum" — The Ideal House — Health and 
Mountains — Davos in Winter — Alpine Diversions — The 
Stimulation of the Alps — On Some Technical Elements of 
Style in Literature — A Note on Realism — The Morality of 
the Profession of Letters — The Day After To-morrow — Books 
which Have Influenced Me — The Genesis of "The Master of 
Ballantrae" 

POEMS 

Complete Poems 

A Child's Garden of Verses — Underwoods — Ballads 



The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson to His Family and 
Friends. Selected and Edited, with notes and introduction, 
by Sidney Colvin. 4 volumes 

The Life of Robert Louis Stevenson. Abridged Edition in one 
volume. By Graham Balfour 



SUBSCRIPTION EDITION [ sold only in sets] 
THE THISTLE EDITION 

Twenty-five volumes, printed on special rough-edged paper, and 
attractively bound. Each volume contains a rotogravure frontis- 
piece and in addition there are eighty illustrations throughout the 
set. Among the artists represented are: Howard Pyle, Will Low, 
William Hole, W. H. Hyde, E. H. Blashfield, J. Alden Weir, Walter 
Crane, Alfred Brennan, B. W. Clinedinst, and others. There are 
also several portraits of Mr. Stevenson, taken at different times. 



RICHLY ILLUSTRATED EDITIONS 

The famous Wyeth illustrated volumes 
Treasure Island 

With 14 full-page illustrations in color by N. C. Wyeth, and with decorative 
cover and lining. With Map 

Kidnapped: Being the Adventures of David Balfour in the 
Year 1751 

With 14 full-page illustrations in color by N. C. Wyeth, and with decorative 
cover and lining. With Map 

The Black Arrow: A Tale of the Two Roses 

With 14 full-page illustrations in color by N. C. Wyeth, and with decorative 
cover and lining 

Miss Jessie Willcox Smith's Child's Garden Pictures 
A Child's Garden of Verses 

With 12 full-page illustrations in color by Jessie Willcox Smith and many 
sketches in black-and-white; decorative cover and lining 

OTHER ILLUSTRATED EDITIONS 

Treasure Island 

With illustrations in color and in black-and-white by George Varian. WithMap 
Edition with illustrations by Walter Paget. With Map 
Edition with illustrations in color and others in black-and-white. Scribner 
Series for Young People. With Map 

Kidnapped: Being the Adventures of David Balfour in the 
Year 1751 

With 4 illustrations in color. Scribner Series for Young People 

A Child's Garden of Verses 

With 8 full-page illustrations in color and over fifty others in black-and- 
white by Florence Storer 
Edition profusely illustrated in pen-and-ink by Charles Robinson 

An Inland Voyage. With 12 full-page illustrations 
The Life of Robert Louis Stevenson 

By Graham Balfour. With portraits. 2 volumes 



The POCKET R. L. S. Being Favorite Passages from the Works of Stevenson 

A Book of R. L. S. Works, Travels, Friends, and Commentators 
By George H. Brown. With many full-page illustrations 

Learning to Write: Suggestions and Counsel from Robert 
LOUIS STEVENSON. Selected and Edited by John William Rogers, Jr. 

"A Christmas Sermon" "Als Triplex" and "Fables" are published separately in 
attractive small form. 

i'Si 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



014 433 641 




